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CHAPTER 15 Fortunes Won and Lost 1861 to 1865

Although the skirmishes of the Civil War never took place near the upper Savannah River, probably no family, Black or White, was untouched by the conflict in some way. Certainly most people knew a man, or even a boy, injured or killed in the war, and few could ignore the many rumors about battles won and lost on both sides, not when their own futures could be determined by the outcomes.

Whites in particular must have grown especially apprehensive as news came of a fiery march through Georgia led by Union General William Tecumseh Sherman. They must have learned that he burned Atlanta, and that he was headed for Savannah. But once there, Sherman didn't set the city ablaze as many feared because residents surrendered without a fight and gave the general one of the finest homes as his headquarters.

Abbeville, South Carolina, which for so long had served as the home of John C. Calhoun and the place where he practiced law, was an early hotbed of the secessionist movement; and when the war that resulted from the movement was close to the end, Abbeville was also where the president of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis, held the last meeting of his cabinet, his last council of war before surrendering. Their gathering in the Burt-Stark Mansion May 2, 1865, prompted citizens to call their town "the birthplace and the deathbed of the Confederacy."

Some of the reservoir area's earliest and most powerful families were directly affected by the war. Among them were the Hutchisons. Robert Hutchison was the son of one of the first pioneer families to settle on the South Carolina side of the Savannah River. He became one of the richest men in the region, rivaling James Edward Calhoun in his property holdings, and earning a place of leadership in the community. Hutchison was so financially successful that he often made loans to others and became known by the nickname of "everybody¹s banker."

One of his sons, Robert Barney Hutchison, joined the Confederate Army early in the war. He served with General Robert B. Ieee's Army of Northern Virginia during its first foray into Northern territory in late 1862, making him part of a powerful Rebel force that had stirred some in the United States government into a panic. Ieee's army seemed almost invincible then, until a Union soldier commanded by General John B. McClellan found the enemy's battle plans wrapped around several cigars. That stroke of luck prompted McClellan to become uncharacteristically bold and aggressive, and the tide of history changed.

Hutchison fought in the decisive engagement at Antietam in Maryland, also called the battle of Sharpsburg. There, Union soldiers finally halted the Confederate advance, and General Lee and his forces were forced to retreat south into Virginia. Hutchison was so badly wounded in the fight that he lost a leg. When he returned home, he and his wife moved to Anderson County, South Carolina, for a time, but they returned in the 1870's to the area where his father lived near Lowndesville, South Carolina. The couple settled into a log house, later to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Another family rocked by the Civil War was the Harpers. Their family chronicle in the region began when Henry Harper settled in Edinburg, Georgia, in 1792, where he operated one of the first local river ferries. In 1808, his son, Lyndsey, perhaps bettered his own fortunes through marriage. Apparently, not long after his wedding to Jane (Jenny) Harris, daughter of a prominent doctor, Lyndsey moved into her family home or built a house on the Harris property. Documents don't show whether Lyndsey bought or inherited the land where he and Jenny lived, but whichever was the case, people thought of their Abbeville County residence as fairly opulent.

Possible evidence that the newlyweds settled at the bride's home came from the inscription on her 1853 tombstone. Located in the graveyard of the Lyndsey Harper Plantation, the tombstone reads, "She was born, lived, and died within 300 yards of her grave.

Historians tracing the lives of selected reservoir area families often consulted government documents and legal records in their search for information. Census counts, wills, tax records, deeds, itemizations of estates, all were useful. For example, the 1810 census showed that Lyndsey Harper's father owned no slaves, and that Lyndsey, just married, owned one. By the 1820 census, Lyndsey owned eight slaves and employed four other free Blacks. Lyndsey's wealth remained about the same until between 1840 and 1850 when his wealth increased significantly and he came close to being part of the plantation class.

Lyndsey Harper's wealth was documented at his death in 1850 when his estate was listed in public records. At that time, he owned at least 1,304 acres of land and 19 slaves. Three of the slaves were valued at only one dollar apiece because they were old.

One way Lyndsey Harper had expanded his income was by lending money. His estate papers showed that many people were indebted to him. There were several pages listing notes due, some dating back to 1831, with debtors' names, dates and amounts of every loan, and comments whether prospects of repayment were good, bad, or doubtful. Before his death, Harper also made several payments himself to people listed as "landlord" and "landlady". He apparently owned property in Augusta and Elberton, Georgia, and was paying people to manage it.

Jenny Harper died within three years of her husband, and the estate was divided among six children and grandchildren. A son, Henry, described as about six-feet tall with dark hair and a dark complexion, assumed ownership of the family farm. By 1856, Henry Harper's tax returns show that he had achieved a status his father never quite reached. As the owner of more than 20 slaves, Henry Harper had joined the ranks of the planter class. His assets continued to grow until by 1860, he owned 42 slaves housed in seven dwellings. He also claimed 1,400 acres of land, 400 of which were being farmed. Befitting his elevated social stature, he was elected to the state legislature. From all accounts, Henry Harper had become a rich and influential man with the brightest prospects. Then he went to war.

Shortly after the firing of the first shots at Fort Sumter (for the National Park Service's Fort Sumter page, click here) in Charleston Harbor April 12, 1861, he enlisted in the Confederate Army and was sworn in as a captain. Stationed in the Beaufort District of South Carolina until the summer of 1862, Harper apparently didn't see any action early in the war.

This was a heady time for the Confederates. One of their generals, Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, and his army seemed to move with the speed of lighting, mounting surprise attacks that stunned their enemies. An especially notable achievement came in the Shenandoah Valley campaign where Jackson's troops held two separate Union armies at bay, and succeeded in sending them simultaneously into retreat. When Jackson rejoined Lee, the two generals and their troops continued either to win battles or, at the very least, to block their opponents from capturing Richmond, Virginia, capitol of the Confederacy. For the time being, the Rebels appeared to have every reason to feel cocky.

During this peak in the South's fortunes, Henry Harper obtained a leave of absence from the army and in the summer of 1862 headed home. Either on the journey or once he reached his destination, he suffered some sort of injury that kept him away from the army, apparently for about a year. By September 1863, he had recovered enough to return to active duty and was promoted to major. He joined Lee's army and was in Virginia when the outlook for the Confederacy blackened. By 1864, the days were clearly past when Confederate General James "Jeb" Stuart's cavalry could ride with impunity around the Union Army. Gone, too, was General Jackson, the man Lee had called his right arm and who had stood like a stone wall against the enemy, inspiring so many Confederates. Jackson died at the hands of his own men, victim of wounds suffered in an accidental shooting. In May 1864, casualties on both sides reached staggering proportions. Armies under the command of Union General Ulysses S. Grant and Confederate General Robert E. Lee fought, often hand-to-hand, in such places as Spotsylvania and the Wilderness in Virginia. In just a month or so, Grant lost about 60,000 men, while Lee lost 30,000. Yet, despite his greater casualties, Grant had an important advantage over Lee. He continued to receive replacements for lost soldiers, while Lee and the entire Confederate Army were short of men, short of everything. Lee's once proud force was now in tatters. Some men fought barefoot.

Somewhere in all this horrific bloodshed Henry Harper managed to stay alive. Little is known about exactly where he served during the period, however, it's certain that he was eventually captured by the enemy. Apprehended by the Union Army July 28, 1864, at Malvern Hill-about halfway between Cold Harbor and Petersburg, Virginia-Harper was taken to the Old Capitol Prison in Washington D.C. Later, he was transferred to the Federal Prison at Fort Delaware. Almost a year to the day after his capture, he was released, on July 24, 1865. As the price of his freedom, he signed an oath of allegiance to the United States government.

Harper emerged from the war with most of his real estate intact, although greatly devalued. Before the war, he owned 1,400 acres, which had diminished to 1,100 acres in 1865.

While his land before the war was valued at $21,000, the figure had dropped to only $8,800 afterwards. The economic depression that had hit the South clearly impacted him. Still, Harper managed mostly to maintain his economic worth through 1870. According to the agricultural schedule of the Federal Census for 1870, he grew quantities of corn, oats, wheat, and cotton worth $5,100.

Shortly after Reconstruction ended, Harper won election to the South Carolina House of Representatives, where he had served before the war. He held office for two years until 1880, when for some unknown reasons his fortunes shifted steeply downward. In the 1880 agricultural schedule, Harper's land value had skidded from $8,000 to $2,600, and his agricultural production plummeted from $5,100 to $700. He had lost 600 acres.

Henry Harper died in 1886, followed five years later by his wife. Researchers found no will for either of them, but it appears that they left what remained of the plantation to their four surviving children.

The Harpers became well known for the ferry they owned on the Savannah River, just as their grandfather had owned a ferry in the late 1700's. But the second ferry, which began service around 1836, operated in a different location than the grandfather's. This second Harper's ferry continued operation until 1928 when automobile bridges eliminated its need.

Traveling back and forth across the river by ferry became commonplace for residents on both sides. James Edward Calhoun eventually owned his own ferry so he could more easily tend to his interests on each bank of the river. Most others, however, depended on entrepreneurs like the Harpers, who charged small fees for the service. Owners named their ferries after themselves, and in the study area, there were the Mosley, Bowman, Dooley, and Tucker Ferries. The latter boat belonged to Dan Tucker, a colorful Elbert County farmer originally from Virginia.

Tucker, born February 14, 1740, was also a minister, and perhaps in that capacity befriended slaves, who created a song about him that persists to this day. Meaning behind the curious lyrics of "Old Dan Tucker" however, has been lost. Nonetheless, the folk song remains a campfire favorite:

"Old Dan Tucker was a grand old man

He washed his face in a frying pan

He combed his hair with a wagon wheel

He died with a toothache in his heel."

The song includes many more verses, although exactly how many remains unclear because new ones continue to be added.

In a sense, the Civil War handed a crueler fate to the McCalla family than to their neighbors, the Harpers. By 1820, John McCalla, who was called "Major", possibly because of military service in the War of 1812, was already a plantation owner. He had 26 slaves. By 1833, he owned 768 acres between the Savannah and Rocky Rivers.

A property inventory at McCalla's death in 1839, excluding land, revealed a value of about $16,000. About $9,000 of his estate's value was in slaves. Some of McCalla's slaves were valued as high as $900 each, and all of them were listed by their first names only: "Biddy, Patty, Rachel, Herrod, Tom, Winny, Fanny, Jim Strong, Zack, Mary, Betty, Dely, Milly, Carolina, Henry, Charles, Alek, and Jim H."

Apparently well educated, McCalla left behind a library appraised at $150, a bookcase, and a copy of George Washington's farewell address valued at $20, along with other items. Taxes filed on behalf of his estate indicated payment of $6.50 to neighbor James Edward Calhoun for the "spring season of a horse." Calhoun, always on the lookout for a way to make money, must have offered his stallion as a stud.

Like Calhoun, John McCalla managed various business pursuits-blacksmithing, carpentry, cloth manufacturing, and possibly timbering. With his death, several small bequests went to missionary societies, while the bulk of his wealth was divided evenly between two sons. George, the youngest, bought his brother's share in the family plantation so that by 1850 he owned it all.

George McCalla's wealth grew phenomenally in the decade before the Civil War. He owned 1,760 acres in 1856, which had almost doubled by 1860 to 3,000 acres. The number of slaves he owned also grew, from 74 in 1856 to 85 in 1860. How he improved his fortune so much is unclear. Additional inheritances perhaps brought in part of the money, and he may have been especially frugal with profits from agriculture, which were good for the time. He may have also driven his slaves especially hard or managed them very efficiently. Archeologist J.W. Joseph determined that McCalla apparently produced 1.85 bales of cotton per slave in 1850, compared to one bale per slave for Henry Harper. James E. Calhoun produced even less, only about a third of a bale per slave.

Archeologist Marlessa Gray noted a possible dark side to McCalla's rapid accumulation of wealth-he apparently didn't pay his fair share of property taxes. In 1856, he paid only $56 tax on 1,760 acres, while Henry Harper paid $75 on less land, just 726 acres. A nearby farmer, William F. Clinkscales, who owned only 450 acres, also forked over more taxes than McCalla-$64.

McCalla's prosperity plummeted after the war, possibly because he went into debt to finance his expansion in the years immediately prior to the conflict. Perhaps he felt impelled to borrow money because so much of his wealth was tied up in slaves, an investment entirely lost following the South's defeat when slaves were freed. Also, plunging land values throughout the region after the war further diminished his principal assets.

According to his 1865 tax return, McCalla's property had decreased in value from $31,000 to $15,000. The figure continued to drop until, by the time of his death in 1886, his land's value had sunk to $10,790 and his personal property was appraised at just $76. McCalla was also deeply in debt.

Despite these losses, he somehow managed to hold onto his land until his death. His estate, including small amounts of money and personal items, was divided among seven children, grandchildren born to a daughter then dead, and his wife Mary Jane, who had married him when she was 16 and he was 28.

Of all the people researched in the Russell studies, James Edward Calhoun's economic profile was one of the more difficult to track because of his many ventures, and because he owned land in two states and several counties. That said, it appears that Calhoun continued to feel financially pinched into the 1830's, despite his vast holdings, because, in part, he didn't have enough slaves to handle all the jobs he wanted accomplished. Letters suggest that he was constantly juggling slaves between his agricultural and industrial concerns. At one point in 1833, he wrote that he had delayed planting corn because of construction work at a mill. In the same year, he wrote that his workers didn't finish picking cotton until December 30 because of other jobs.

One way Calhoun got around his labor shortage was to rent out some of his vast acreage. Sometimes he collected money in return; other times, he took pay in crops. For instance, in 1833 he rented land to a former overseer for which he was to receive shares of the man's crops-one fourth of the corn, one third of the cotton, and half the oats.

Between 1830 and 1840, Calhoun either had enough credit or made enough profit to boost his slave holdings dramatically. In ten years, he went from owning 55 slaves to 155. By 1860, the number had jumped to 194.

Calhoun also spent the pre-war years pursuing his goal of an industrial complex on his plantation that could convert his various crops into finished goods, but the extent of his success is hard to determine. For example, he contemplated building a manufacturing facility for cottonseed oil, but whether he followed through on the idea remains unknown. He definitely bought a loom from a company in New York to make cotton bagging and crude clothing for his slaves, but accounts suggest that he never completed the project. Certainly by 1850, Calhoun did own an undefined number of mills, which were valued at $1,000 and produced cornmeal, wheat flour, and boards.

The 1860 census lists a company by the name of Rogers & Calhoun in the Abbeville area which researchers think Calhoun may have partly owned. The venture definitely would have matched his ambitions for a diversified industrial center. Rogers & Calhoun consisted of grist mills producing meal and flour worth $2,700; a sawmill manufacturing $1,500 worth of lumber; a tannery producing some $3,500 worth of leather; and a blacksmith shop, which hammered out $700 worth of tools.

Even if Calhoun didn't develop such an industrial center, he apparently pocketed plenty of cash. Whether through a canny forecast of hard economic times or just plain good luck, he pulled off a feat that spared him the kinds of losses suffered by other planters. He apparently sold a large amount of land right before the Civil War began. In 1850, he owned 10,100 acres, according to U.S. Census records concerning Abbeville County, but by 1860 he had reduced his holdings to 2,850 acres.

In fact, Calhoun may have actually prospered during the war. Clearly, the war years were, for the most part, comfortable for him. In one letter, he related to a relative that he was "free of debt. " In another, he wrote that he expected "an extraordinary crop" and that he was "never before so well prepared." Calhoun probably used some of his new-found capital to farm more of his land. In 1850, he had 450 improved acres. By 1860, his improved land had increased to 1,450 acres.

He continued his active letter correspondence throughout the war, and among the letters he received were several requests for charity. In February, 1863, a distant cousin whose husband and sons were Confederate soldiers, wrote to beg him for help in buying food and paying off her debts. Another letter revealed that Calhoun sent food to a neighbor needing help feeding his slaves, and seeds for planting crops the following spring.

In August, 1863, Calhoun received another plea from an old school friend who had abandoned his own coastal plantation as the Union army approached. The friend requested land for himself and his slaves. Calhoun offered use of some of his undeveloped property, but the friend, who was 65, wrote back that he had decided he wasn't up to such a task.

Despite these entreaties for help from the less fortunate, little personal sacrifice apparently was asked of Calhoun during the war. However, in 1864, he did send six of his slaves to Charleston to serve the Confederate Engineering Department, and he did pay higher taxes because of the war. In many ways, Millwood was insulated from the problems beginning to close in on many others because it was so self-sufficient. As the war progressed, however, growing numbers of items did become increasingly scarce. An agent for Calhoun notified him as early as October, 1863 that "coffee and sugar are not to be had." And a neighbor wrote to Calhoun about going all the way to Augusta to buy supplies. He reported that coffee was selling for $11 per pound and that prices for other basics-salt, sugar, and quinine-were so high he could "scarcely believe it."

If documents accurately reflect Calhoun's affairs, he may have been able to pull off another financial coup at the war's end. He perhaps bought land again when prices had plummeted after peace was declared. Tax records for 1867 show that Calhoun owned 10,194 acres, up from 2,850 in 1860. Possibly he spent his cash reserves to buy back property he once owned. This wealth of real estate helped Calhoun withstand the trials ahead when a different type of conflict erupted in the Piedmont.

Chapter 16: Gone, But Not Forgotten

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